January 10, 2010: Disclaimer

I need to clear up what may be a misconception by some of you about yesterday's post, The Value of the Garden. The value of each crop was based on the chart on Erin's blog, Like Math?, not on the actual cash values of similar crops in my area. By using the same monetary values, we can compare the "worth" of our harvests. For instance, during my growing season, I can buy onions at my local farm market for 69-cents per pound, freshly dug potatoes for 59-cents per pound, vine ripened tomatoes for $1.69, etc., etc. On the other hand, during the winter months I'd have to pay $3 and up for one red bell pepper. With such a variance in local pricing, the only way to make a comparison is if we all use the same pricing chart. That's why the "value" of my garden seems so high. In actuality, with local pricing, it would would certainly be lower.

6 comments:

this summer I am going to bring a notepad with me when I go to the farmer's market to get my "low" market price, and also jot down winter prices in the grocery store to get my "high" market price. Point is though, we all come out waaaayyyyy ahead for growing our own, even with the costs figured in. Way to go! (I would hate to see D.C. or NYC prices!)

Thomas, you couldn't piss off anybody if you tried! You are probably the most loved blogger in our big circle of garden bloggers. You should see all the good stuff we write about you behind your back ;-)

And the prices vary so widely during the season, as you noted, that it makes it difficult. Too bad there's not some online price tracker that's localized. Wouldn't that be great? Then you could do a comparison right when you picked them.

For instance, when I dig a pepper out of the freezer like I did last night for chili, do I count the cost of the freezer, and the electricity to run it? I spent a bajillion dollars on redwood. . . I'm so far in the hole that it's just silly to try to make my garden less expensive than buying. But would I stop? No, it may be more like an expensive hobby than a moneysaver, but the health benefits alone are very nice.

Stefaneener, not to mention...I grew around 500 pounds of tomatoes. Would I have bought 500 pounds of tomatoes, had I not grown any? Duh. Maybe 20 pounds, but certainly not 500. Would I have bought 87 pounds of bell peppers? No, maybe a dozen peppers for the entire season. Ten cucumbers would probably have been more than enough, I certainly wouldn't have purchased 102 pounds of them! No, I didn't spend $3000 for my veggies last year, but I didn't save $3000 by not buying them.

I also didn't count what it cost for jars, pectin, sugar, vinegar, pickling salt, freezer bags, etc., either. That would all have to enter into the cost of production.